Fiscal & Economic Policy

Policymakers at all levels of government have many difficult choices to make as rising health care, education, and infrastructure costs place pressures on annual budgets and outpace revenue growth. Pew helps legislators and public officials confront these challenges by sharing information and highlighting best practices that help governments achieve both short-term and long-term financial health and make smart investments in programs that provide the strongest returns. Pew also seeks to increase state fiscal accountability, responsibility, and transparency by providing independent and unbiased information to policymakers, stakeholders, and the public, as well as help explain the complex ways that federal and state fiscal policy interact.

All

As the nation emerged from the Great Recession, federal dollars made up a bigger proportion of states’ revenue from fiscal year 2009 to 2012 than at any other time in the past 50 years. After peaking at 35.5 percent in fiscal 2010, however, the share fell back within its historical range in fiscal 2013, dropping to 30.0 percent. Read More

Fiscal 50: State Trends and Analysis, an interactive resource from The Pew Charitable Trusts, allows you to sort and analyze data on key fiscal, economic, and demographic trends in the 50 states and understand their impact on states’ fiscal health. Read More

With the temporary increase in funding for the federal highway trust fund set to run out by May 2015, states and localities are again facing the prospect that shortfalls in the fund could delay or reduce the federal money they rely on for transportation projects. Read More

States experienced vastly different tax revenue fluctuations over the past two decades, with the greatest year-to-year volatility in Alaska and the least in South Dakota. These swings can confound efforts to balance state budgets. This first-of-its-kind assessment controls for the effect of known state tax law changes to reveal the underlying volatility of each state’s total tax revenue and... Read More

Research & Analysis

As the nation emerged from the Great Recession, federal dollars made up a bigger proportion of states’ revenue from fiscal year 2009 to 2012 than at any other time in the past 50 years. After peaking at 35.5 percent in fiscal 2010, however, the share fell back within its historical range in fiscal 2013, dropping to 30.0 percent. Read More

With the temporary increase in funding for the federal highway trust fund set to run out by May 2015, states and localities are again facing the prospect that shortfalls in the fund could delay or reduce the federal money they rely on for transportation projects. Read More

States experienced vastly different tax revenue fluctuations over the past two decades, with the greatest year-to-year volatility in Alaska and the least in South Dakota. These swings can confound efforts to balance state budgets. This first-of-its-kind assessment controls for the effect of known state tax law changes to reveal the underlying volatility of each state’s total tax revenue and... Read More

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s appointment of an emergency manager to oversee financially distressed Atlantic City is among numerous state efforts to intervene in troubled communities to help them recover. Read More

In 2013, Rhode Island's economic development strategy reached a turning point. Policymakers were coping with the fallout of a deal gone bad: A video game company in which the state had invested heavily went out of business, leaving taxpayers on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in costs with no benefit to show for it. Facing deep fiscal challenges, Rhode Island policymakers understood that... Read More

The report, "State Employee Health Plan Spending: An examination of premiums, cost drivers and policy approaches," found that paying for employee health insurance is second only to Medicaid as a portion of states’ overall health care spending. Read More

As federal policymakers consider corporate tax reform, it is important to understand how proposed changes might affect state tax revenue and how that impact could interact with federal policy goals. Read More

Multimedia

Fiscal 50: State Trends and Analysis, an interactive resource from The Pew Charitable Trusts, allows you to sort and analyze data on key fiscal, economic, and demographic trends in the 50 states and understand their impact on states’ fiscal health. Read More

Is your state ready for a rainy day? If not, policymakers may face tough choices, like cutting funding for schools and road construction, or raising taxes. To help states prepare, The Pew Charitable Trusts has identified three steps to strengthen state reserves. The key: planning for tax revenue volatility when designing a rainy day savings fund. Read More

This interactive tool follows three typical people—Mike, Sarah, and Jen—as they go about their day. They are all responsible with money, but their budgets are a little tight. We will explore how, depending on where they bank, their experiences with overdraft fees can differ dramatically, and why it pays to know your institution's policies and practices. Click on a character to start. Read More

The Iowa Department of Corrections partnered in 2011 with the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative to build a cost-benefit analysis model to compare programs based on effectiveness, cost, and expected benefits. This video documents Iowa's progress in implementing its Results First model and highlights the state's accomplishments as of the summer of 2014. Read More

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